


magical promises are bound to be broken.

by your_local_weeb



Series: Nooty’s crossover fics [2]
Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe-My Hero Academia, Alternate Universe-Puella Magi Madoka Magika, Angst, Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia Manga Spoilers, Fluff, Gen, Mostly Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27062314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/your_local_weeb/pseuds/your_local_weeb
Summary: Balance. It kept the universe from collapsing.Balance. It was the reason humanity had progressed all this time.Balance. It’s what the Incubators used to keep entropy at bay.The world. It was kept on strings, following orders like a childish puppet show.But Midoriya Izuku was planning to cut the threads, and the knife is already in his hands.In all of their calculating genius, playing with human emotion was the greatest, and most unnecessary risk yet; and they didn’t even realise.
Relationships: Toshinori Yagi | All Might & Midoriya izuku
Series: Nooty’s crossover fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976998
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22





	magical promises are bound to be broken.

**Author's Note:**

> another wip. yippee.
> 
> And another crossover one, too.
> 
> Uhhhhh it’s what it says on the tin, but it’s an au where the bnhaverse have soul gems and shit like that lol
> 
> so uhhh yeah, have fun
> 
> **TW: suicide mention between “ His goons laughed at his (unfunny) remark.“ and “ Midoriya ran downstairs, avoiding all the shoes waiting for him to trip on.”**

80% of this population was lucky.

Well, that’s just some approximations. It might’ve been 80.12142% for all Midoriya knew. But the point still stands.

Incubators, or “Kyubeys” as they’re more affectionately known, walk on among humans. No one knows why they’re called incubators, but they unlock magical potential in the lucky percentage.

It works in a system that’s drilled into everyone’s head: someone with great potential is visited by said creatures, and can have any wish granted. Any. In return, they have to do selfless work for justice and the people; those whose wishes are granted are called “Heroes”.

They mainly fight fought “Villains”. Corrupted beings that spread despair for no other reason other than their own pleasure. Some even deceive heroes with their pitiful human appearances, but those are weak Villains. The strongest are grotesque monsters, that create complicated labyrinths for innocents to fall victim to.

No one knows why Kyubeys grant wishes, no matter how impossible. But they’re cryptic creatures, with no explanations attached.

But sometimes, people don’t have great potential. Sometimes, they’re left to be the saved for the saviour, to praise the heroes as they slay another villain.

Midoriya Izuku is part of the unlucky 20%, and his classmates despise him for it.

Kacchan. He used to be a friend. Someone Midoriya could confine to, maybe play pretend with. But then.

Kyubey visited.

The day he showed off his red soul gem, as crimson as his determined eyes, he changed. Suddenly, Midoriya was the only person who didn’t have a magical ability; and he was made into a punchline.

Sometimes, Incubators stare at him with blank, empty eyes. Bright pink irises awfully similar to the dead eyes of a ragged stuffed animal. They would never say anything, but stare. When Midoriya tried to contact them, they always ran away.

He gave up after the 59’th attempt.

And sometimes, Midoriya wondered if he even wanted to be a hero. None of them seemed to live past young adulthood, and went missing when they reached their peak. Except All Might.

All Might seemed ageless, always young and buff beyond human imagination. It was like the gods decided to create the ultimate peak of strength, and created him, a paragon.

He was seen as a model hero for every young child to look up to, strong, selfless, always fighting, always winning, always keeping his soul gem clean, always giving away excess grief seeds for those too young to beat villains.

Midoriya always wanted to be like him.

* * *

But Midoriya couldn’t.

No incubator even tried to talk to him, whilst everyone showed off their shiny rings, bedazzled with their soul gem; even if it’s just another form of it.

Red, blue, green, purple; so many colours, and Midoriya didn’t have any.

His finger was empty, no shiny hue that held magical powers or demonstrations of his emotions, just a gemless hand, waiting to be ridiculed.

It was humiliating.

So humiliating, that Kacchan threw his notebooks out the window.

“Get out of the way, Deku.”

Oh yeah. That nickname. Y’know, the one that meant useless.

“Honestly, it’s hilarious how you think you can be a hero when the incubators don’t even see your potential.”

His red soul morphed from a ring to a gem.

“See this? You’ll never get it, you’re way past the time to even hope for one; if you aren’t even a hero, then how could you even think about going to U.A?”

His goons laughed at his (unfunny) remark.

“Here’s some advice: you’ll never amount to anything, so why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof instead of hoping for something pointless.”

… Wow. What the hell?

“I’m gonna go train for the entrance exams, see you never.”

What was he thinking? If he got caught, who knows if U.A would accept him. They don’t take suicide lightly, what the hell?

Midoriya ran downstairs, avoiding all the shoes waiting for him to trip on. Goddamn it, at least the ink from the pens were waterproof; but that didn’t mean anything if the paper was ruined.

Luckily, his notebooks retained… Some shape.

He didn’t know what god he displeased, or killed, but fate really liked to play him like a fiddle, or a cheap kazoo. Whatever that meant.

It was a shitty day, to be frank; but everyone already knew that, if the looks of pity were anything to go off of.

Midoriya just wanted to go home and eat dinner with his mom. Or maybe take the dinner to his room and eat in peace. Whichever of the two. So he started to walk on the concrete of the street.

All while ignoring the ache on his gut that yelled to go the other way.

Now wasn’t that strange?

He wandered to a park, and spotted a bench. It held thin slices of pink, blossoms of cherry reminiscent of spring. A shadow left some in darkness, others blushing in the small circles of light.

And then, he tripped.

His notebooks tumbled out of his hands, and Midoriya was pissed.

“Goddamn it, why can’t I just have one good—“

His blood ran cold as he heard a slow, sloshing noise come from the sewers.

“—Day…?”

It grew into a… _Thing_ , towering over Midoriya as it smiled far too wide.

“A vessel!” it shouted, slime spilling over one another in layers, “ **You’ll make a _wonderful_ meat suit**.”

_Is this where I die? By the hands of… What is this? An underling? If so, where is it’s source? No, it can speak, only Villains speak; but if it is a Villain, why hasn’t it held up a labyrinth yet? Or…_

_Is it an underling transitioning into Villain?_

_If so,_

Midoriya started to run.

**_How many people did it kill?_ **

A tendril of sludge tripped him over, and dragged him back. His nails started to bleed from scratching the ground, failing as a break to steady himself against… It.

And then it.

Started to submerge Midoriya in a sea of slime, suffocating him as he felt slime run down his throat.

It was nothing short of _torturous._

Midoriya’s vision clouded and blurred, his cries of help drowned and choked out in his own ears. It felt like he was in sleep paralysis; only that he was fully awake.

Even if he had a soul gem, there was no way he would be able to get out of it. It felt like he got thrown into a dark pit, where he was the only one falling. The only one alone.

The only one falling into despair.

He could almost taste death on his tongue. If Midoriya died, the underling would evolve into a villain.

(And he would be responsible for the countless lives ruined by the creature, that now ran free from their chains that tied them to a villain, and sowed catastrophe with every swallowed human. If only he could defend himself, then maybe he could be useful for once and not die a weak, worthless, useless—)

**“HA—N-FE—R, I—M HERE—!”**

The second before he succumbed to the (terrifyingly welcome) arms of death, a Hero appeared.

Suddenly, his lungs could breathe again, and they desperately clawed at any air they could touch, Midoriya’s chest heaved in relief, almost crying at the sight of colour that wasn’t brown, like the whirlwind of emotion he was.

But the change in environment, it was too drastic for his body to comprehend. Before he could thank the Hero, black creeped into his vision.

And he was knocked out. Cold.

* * *

Waking up to the sight of All Might gently (but repeatedly) slapping him in the face was. Not good for Midoriya’s mental stability. Especially considering it was falling apart at the seams.

His memory went blank as he tried not to scream, figuring out why he was on the _concrete_ and not his _bed_ ; and then All Might spoke.

“Don’t worry, I dealt with the villain; it might’ve been an underling, though, since it didn’t drop a seed.”

Oh. Yeah. Midoriya almost fucking died.

“But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find the villain that the underling worked for…”

He jolted upwards, “Oh right! So rude of me not to ask, but are you okay, my boy?”

Yeah, yeah, he was alright. Midoriya was alright, and not internally panicking at the fact his idol had SAVED HIM and was SPEAKING TO HIM, so.

“I think… So?”

All Might sighed, “Don’t answer a question with another question, hesitation and uncertainty is fatal in the industry.”

_Great. Another reason why I shouldn’t be a hero, despite my greatest wishes._

“I’m so sorry!” Midoriya yelped, “I wish I had an ability to save myself with, you really shouldn’t have wasted your mana on me! And the underling didn’t even drop a grief seed either, so you won’t be able to recover the lost magic! Ah… How can I make it up to you? You shouldn’t waste your energy on me, I’ll just g—“

All Might coughed, and steam erupted from his body.

And blood spilt from his mouth.

“Shit, it’s happened again.”

If Midoriya screamed in abject terror, nobody needed to know.

“WAIT! YOUNG MAN! DON’T PANIC! IT IS ME, DON’T WORRY!”

He showed his yellow soul gem, only a little dimmed by paper-thin black threads at the base. Sure enough, it was All Might’s.

“... Huh?”

The gem faded into a ring, fitting on his middle finger.

“You see, a few years ago, around 5-or-6-ish, I ran into a villain; he injured me so badly that it almost drained what was left of my mana just to heal it.”

Midoriya blinked, “Was Toxic Chainsaw that dangerous?”

All Might shook his head, his blond locks swaying left and right, “It was someone else, someone none of the public has any idea about.”

He continued, “This measly form of mine is a trauma response, the villain ruptured my respiratory organs, and I almost turned into a villain myself from the amount of magic needed to repair them; my body linked the injury to my soul gem, so now I can only stay in my mighty form for around 3 hours a day.”

Midoriya felt a pit of remorse start to build up in his gut.

“And speaking of, where’s yours?”

Midoriya felt his heart stop, “Where’s what?”

“Your gem.”

_Why did I even ask? I already knew what he meant._

“I… I don’t—“ he swallowed, thickly, “I don’t have one.”

His idol stared at him, emotionless.

“But despite that, I still want to save people;” he took great interest in the concrete, “Is it even possible? To be a hero without a gem?”

It’s all he ever wanted, for an incubator to take notice of him for once. He was plain, unnoticeable; not special, and empty of potential, sure, but he could be a hero, couldn’t he?

_Couldn’t I?_

There was a silence, and All Might turned his head, looking at nowhere in particular, “No.”

_Oh, would you look at that, I’m filled with dread._

“You’d die: the purpose of a hero is to fight villains and save people, you can’t do either without any magical ability.”

… It was stupid, how could he even think he could attempt it?

“I’m sorry, but that’s just the truth.”

He started to walk off, “Goodbye, young man; have a nice day.”

Midoriya was left, wallowing in his own despair.

. . .

The sun was starting to set, and a drop of dew fell from a leaf. It made a one-note melody as it fell into water.

**“It’s not too late.”**

Midoriya yelped, almost tripping on smooth ground.

“You do have a bit of potential, but you’re also a special case.”

It was Kyubey, and their tail wrapped around their white bodice.

“You hear that?”

Midoriya blinked, and started to pay attention to his surroundings.

_Cars, honking, traffic, crackled, yells, **screams, police sirens, HEROES—**_

“Run, it’s your chance.”

Midoriya didn’t need to be told twice, and ran to the source of noise

* * *

And found Kacchan in the same situation as him.

The Thing, it had found a new victim; and Midoriya couldn’t bear to see it.

He did the only thing he knew how to do, and ran.

The world? A mere blob of colour, to emphasise the object of focus. Screams of “Stop!” and “You’re gonna die, kid!” were mere concepts he was unrestrained by. For once— _for once_ , he wanted to be someone to rely on, he wanted to be a _fucking hero without care for himself god **damn it—**_

And he threw his bag directly in the creature's eyes, tearing the sludge off Kacchan’s face, feeling the tugs of every movement he made.

“Deku, what the hell are you doing—!”

He let out muffled screams through his teeth, feeling the slime stick to his fingers.

“I’M DOING THE RIGHT THING, KACCHAN.”

_And why the hell weren’t the heroes HELPING HIM OUT—_

Midoriya cringed at the stuff under his fingernails, but it didn’t stop his unshakeable determination to be what he wanted to be.

A hero.

He grabbed at something cold, and ripped it out; a soul gem. Kacchan’s soul gem. Midoriya held it under his chin, taking note of the dark shadows that almost enveloped the blood-red.

(Kacchan’s gem was always clean.)

Midoriya knew it wasn’t that long, but it felt like hours before a hero took action.

_”DETRRROOOOIIIIIITTT—“_

His shaky reflexes barely saved him from the attack.

**_”SMMMAAAAAASSSSSSSSHHHHHH!”_ **

And All Might was here again.

(This time, Midoriya wasn’t staring in awe.)

* * *

Great, absolutely _wonderful_.

All Might, the person who he wanted to see the _least_ was here. Fantastic.

(Ugh, when will fate give him a break.)

“I don’t know what you want with me,” he started, “But I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”

(He had a tremble in his grip, uncertainty in his tone.

The signs of someone who could never be a hero.)

“Thanks for saving Kacchan, though, I could **never** have done it myself.”

(Wow, he’s gone so low as to insult the No.1 pro hero.)

“Young man, please listen.”

“Young man?”

He didn’t want to talk to him, but Midoriya might as well listen.

“I must apologise for what I said earlier.”

_... Huh?_

“I was mistaken, gravely mistaken; my first impression of you was completely inaccurate. The way you charged in to save him, I believe—no—I know you have the most important quality of a hero.”

Was…

_Was he talking about—_

“Young man, look at my soul gem.”

All Might held it out, a glowing ochre.

“This is the embodiment of a secret passed on for several generations; this is not just a gem, it’s called One For All.”

A… Secret?

“For these past several years, I’ve been looking for, and offered, many potential successors, but none of them are like you, young…”

“Midoriya. My name is Midoriya.”

“... Midoriya.”

He clasped the object, glass clinking in his grip.

“I want you to be my successor, because you, Midoriya,”

He stared with absolute certainty.

“You can be a hero.”

Midoriya couldn’t help it, but he collapsed into the concrete; his world stopped, and.

Tears started to stream from his eyes.

It was stupid, really, in retrospect. But back then, it was the best thing that ever happened to him

* * *

Until he had to clean an entire beach.

For 10 months, he would go through (unbelievably painful) workouts to “train his body for One for All”.

Apparently, it was because of the Fourth user, but Midoriya was already clueless about… _Everything_ , regarding the soul gem to even try to ask for context.

“Young Midoriya,” All Might ~~yelled~~ said, “This will all be worth it.”

_Worth doesn’t account for my limbs feeling like jello with every microwave I lift, All Might._

But he still did it, and the setting sun was starting to become a symbol of his achievements. How neat.

Every night, he went to bed with hope in the palms of his hands, it’s been years since it last happened.

And Kyubey watched the entirety of the process, staring in silence.

It used to be creepy, but it grew on him.

* * *

People were starting to notice the confidence that shined through during the training.

His classmates thought it was odd, but Midoriya hugged his pillow in ecstatic glee that things were starting to look up for him.

(Ha. Good for him.)

* * *

The day finally came, and Midoriya was vibrating.

Tomorrow would be the entrance exam, and he couldn’t be happier.

All Might held out his soul gem, and Midoriya forgot how to breathe.

It was yellow, a dandelion gold. Pure of all evil thought, the cleanest of gems.

“Make a wish, my boy, it’s time.”

Midoriya hesitated, before snatching it out of All Might’s hands. He felt a bit guilty, did he look too greedy?

Kyubey’s tail flowed from left to right, waiting in anticipation.

This was the only opportunity he would get, the only one in the world; in his hands, a one-in-a-trillion chance to bring a hopeful future.

“I…”

Why did he want to be a hero? A question that lived in his brain for the past ten months. One that ultimately decided his wish.

“I want to be a hero that saves everyone, no matter who they are, and I want to fight for hope, and justice.”

_Oh dear, was that silly? That was silly wasn’t it, maybe Kyubey would refrain from granting his wish, and leave him along with All Might, his classmates always said how stupid his wish was, so why would—_

“Not the first time someone asked for that, but it’s easily doable. Give me a second, will you?”

_Oh._

The yellow gem in front of him started to glow, and a ribbon-like object muted its light—that object being Kyubey’s ear. The same thing that stabbed through his heart.

It was painful, but in a way that, there was so much of it, it became disgustingly natural. Midoriya felt something pull away from his body, and saw a green… Substance? It was unclear, since he almost passed out.

The viridian engulfed the soul gem in a fusion of hues, holding the yellow for an embrace, swallowing it whole.

For a split-second, there was white; then, colour once more.

Midoriya felt his breath come back as he fell on the sand, hearing a whistley twinkle as a small light fell down, as slow as a feather. It took a moment for Midoriya to realise what it was.

He opened his hands, and grabbed it with a small clap, jolting upwards.

This. This was All Might’s soul gem. And now, it was his.

He let it sit in his palms, crying as the green sparkled and blossomed against the gold accent of the glass, colours fitting each other like a jigsaw.

“Don’t worry,” Kyubey started, “He’ll still have his magical ability, as long as this gem exists, he can too.”

The creature walked over, “Even if his body is completely destroyed, he’ll still be alive if the gem remains untouched.”

They nudged it with their paw, almost glowing under the influence.

“It used to be impossible for users to be 100m away from their soul gems, but First changed some of the rules with his wish.”

Midoriya blinked, “First?”

Kyubey jumped on top of a hedge, “The first vestige.”

They started to hop away, leaving Midoriya ripe with more questions.

“Leave it be,” All Might assured, “They’re mysterious creatures.”

He had no choice but to expect it.

Tomorrow, his future will be decided, but today? He can smile.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> being hero is suffering.
> 
> please leave a comment and some kudos! Maybe some constructive criticism if you wanna!


End file.
